Automatic telephone fire-alarm.



L. A. COLLlNSr AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE FIRE ALARM..

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 14, I916.

2'1 2&5 u Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I Ml VE N TOR L. Collins L. A. COLLINS.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE FIRE ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 14. I916.

Patented Jan. 8; 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVE/V TOR A TTOR/VEYS L. 'A. COLLINS.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE FIRE ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-14. 1916.

1 5,565. Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- L. H. Calms.

IiEE A. QOLLINS, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE FIRE-ALARM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

Application filed December 14, 1916. Serial No. 137,011.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEE A. COLLINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Telephone Fire-Alarms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in fire alarms and more particularly to that type in which an audible signal is transmitted from a telephone line to the central station when the central may subsequently call up the fire department and thereby give a certain alarm.

One of the primary objects of my invention consists in providing an alarm mechanism of the above described character which shall be automatically operated in case of fire and which will act to raise the receiver hook of a telephone instrument to connect the instrument in line with the central station and which will give an audible signal which may be transmitted from the telephone line to the central station.

In this connection, one of the objects of my invention consists in providing an actuating device including a normally engaged latch lever and keeper which, when disengaged, release a weight having operative connection with the receiver hook so that the hook will be raised and the instrument connected in its circuit.

A still further object of my invention consists in providing a normally open signal circuit adapted to be closed upon movement of the latch lever to release the keeper.

Another object which I have in view is the provision of novel means for causing the release of the latch lever which includes a spring normally tending to swing it to released position and a stretched cord normally tending to hold it in active position, the cord being either extended about various parts of the structure to be protected so that it will be burned in case of fire or being adapted to be mechanically severed through closing of a circuit controlled by thermostatic circuit closers.

In this connection. a still further object of my invention consists in the provision of a novel form of electrical device for. severing the cord upon closing of a circuit by a thermostatic circuit closer.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrating my alarm system in use, Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the actuatin mechanism proper with its casing removerfi Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, the casing being shown in dotted lines,

ing mechanism, 1

Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1 illustrating the employment of my system in connection with thermostatically operated circuit closers and mechanical means for severing the controlling cord,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the v thermostatic circuit closers,

Fig. 7 is a corresponding view of the electrically operated cord severing mechanism.

As my fire alarm system is intended to operate in connection with a telephone system in such a manner as to transmit an audible signal to the central station of the telephone company in case of fire, I have illustrated it in connection with a conventional form of telephone instrument 10 having a receiver hook 11, the instrument being pref erably mounted on any suitable support 12. Cooperating with this telephone instrument is an actuating mechanism indicated as a whole by the numeral 13 and an audible sig-,

nal device 14.

Referring to Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive for an understanding of the actuating mechanism 13, it will be seen that such mechanism includes a support 15 forming the back wall of a housing 16 which is open at its lower end. Vertically disposed spaced guides 17 aresecurcd to the back wall 15 projecting at their lower ends to the bottom thereof and a keeper 18 is pivoted at one end to the lower end of one of these guides and adapted, at its opposite end, to seat in a socket or recess 19 formed in the lower end of a latch lever 20 which is pivoted at its upper end at 21 adjacent the upper portion of the housing and which normally hangs in a vertical position. A weight 22 is supported by the keeper 18 being free for sliding I movement between the guides 17 and adapted to drop through the open bottom of the casing upon release of the keeper through Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the actuatswinging of the latch lever 20. This weight is provided, at its upper end, with an eye- 23 and a cord 24 is connected at one end to the eye, is passed upwardly through a guide ring 25. carried by the back wall 15of the casing, forwardly through an opening 26 formed in the front wall of the casing and 'its free end is connected to the receiver hook 11. Obviously, if the weight 22 is released by release of the keeper 18, it will act through the cord 24 to raise the receiver hook'and connect the telephone instrument with the central station.

A cord 27 is secured, at on end, to an eye 28 carried by the latch'lever in spaced relationto its pivoted end, i s passedabout an idler pulley or guide 29 mounted in the casing, through an opening in the top of the casing and is strung about various parts of the house or other structure to be protected, being passed through guide rings 30 and fastened, at one end, as shown at 31. A weight 32 is loosely suspended upon any portion of this cord to hold it taut in case of stretching and as will be apparent, this cord, as long as it remains under strain,

will hold the latch lever in active engagement with the keeper 18. A helical spring 33 connected, at one end, to thelatch lever adjacent its free end is connected, at its opposite end, to a stud or F1134 projecting from the back wall '15 o the casing and exerts a constantv strain tending to swing the latch lever to inactive position to release the keeper. Obviously, therefore, as soon as the cord 27 becomes severed, as by being burned, the latch lever will be swung to in active position. I v

A stop bracket 35 is secured to the rear wall of the casing in the path of the "latch lever 20 to limit its movement under the action of the spring 33 and this bracket carries a contact 36 engageable by a contact 37 carried bythe latch lever. A wire 38 leads from a; binding post 39 carried by the latch lever through an opening formed in the casing 16 to one terminal or pole of a battery 40 or other suitable source of electrical energy and a wire 41 leads from the stopbracket 35 to one binding post of the audible signal device 14 which, in the present instance, is illustrated as an electr cally operated gong. A wire 42 connects the other binding post of this gong with the other pole of the battery.

In operation, in'case of fire, the cord- 27 or a portion of it will be destroyed by the fire-'zwith the result that the spring 33 will draw the latch lever 20 into engagement with the bracket 35 to release the keeper 18.

This movement of the latch "lever will release the weight 22 causing the raising .of

the receiver hook of the telephone instrument and will also close a. circuit from the battery through the wire 38, latch lever 20,

able and such a system is illustratedin Figs.

5 to 7 inclusive. In these figures, the telephonemstrument, actuating mechanism 13 and audible signal are identical and are indicated by corresponding reference numerals. The cord 27, however, instead of being run about various parts of the structure to be protected is run but a short distance from the casing and its end is secured to an eye screwed into the wall of the structure or any suitable support as indicated at 43. Cooperating with the apove described portion of the alarm system Is an electrically actuated cord severing device indicated as a whole by the numeral 44 and a plurality of thermostatically operated circuit closers 45 connected incircuit with a source of energy such as a battery 46 and with the cord severing device 44. Referringnow more particularly to Fig. 7 of the drawings, the cord severing device includes a supporting base 47 carrying an electro-magnet 48 and adja cent each coil of themagnet, the standards 49 and 50. An armature 51 ishinged to the upper end of the standard 49 and is normally held away from the poles of the mag-- net by a leaf spring 52 carried by the standard. An L-shaped stop 53 supported by the standard 50 has its free arm extending in spaced relation to the standard to limit the swinging of the armature 51- away from the poles of the magnet through the action of the spring 52. The upper end of the standard- 50 is provided with a slot '54 in alinement with the armature 51. and the arma ture, at its free end, is provided with a cutting blade 55, the edge of which is normally spaced somewhat above the standard 50. Upon energization of the magnet, this cutting blade is adapted to be drawn into the slot 54 to sever a cord extending across the slot, Obviously, the slot may be sopro- 'portioned relative to the taper of the cutting blade as to protect the edge portion proper of the blade and prevent its blunting in operation. This cord severing device is supported in any suitable manner so that a portion of the cord 27' will extend across the slot 54 in position to be severed when the magnet 48 is energized. A wire 56 leads from one terminal of the magnet coil to one pole of the battery 46 and the wire 57 leads from the other terminal of the magnet 48 to one of the contacts of the thermostatic circuit closer 45, a wire 58 leading from the other contact and this circuit closer to the free pole of the battery 46. Obviously, any number of circuit closers 45 may be connected in the circuit by means of branch leads 59 and 60. Any suitable type of thermostatically operated circuit closer may be employed, one form being illustrated in Fig. 6 in which two plates 61 and 62 of dissimilar metal are connected at one end as shown at 63, their connected ends being insulated from each other by a block or strip of fiber 64 or other insulating material. The free ends of these strips carry upon their adjacent faces, contacts 65 adapted to be brought into engagement with each other when the temperature of the plates has been suificientlv raised as would happen in case of fire. Of course, the fastening device 63 is insulated from the plates so that there is normally no electrical connection between them and the circuit forming wires 57 and 58 are connected one to each of the plates.

Although, I have illustrated and described my invention in all its details of construction, it will, of course, be apparent that numerous changes, both in details and in arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and I, therefore, reserve the right to make any changes which may be deemed advisable and which will fall within the scope of the appended claims. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is;

1. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver hook, of means releasable to raise the hook, means operable by the release of the first mentioned means for sounding an audible signal, and means operable under conditions necessitating an alarm signal for releasing the first mentioned means, said lattermeans including a cord under tension and adapted when disrupted to cause release of the first mentioned means, and electrically operated thermostatically controlled means for disrupting the cord.

2. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver hook, of a weight, connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the receiver hock, means normally'supporting the weight but tending constantly to move out of supporting relation thereto, and a disruptible member normally holding the supporting means in active position.

3. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver heck, of a weight, connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling ofthe weight will cause raising-of the receiver hook, means normally supporting the weight but tending constantly to move out of supporting relation thereto, and a disruptible member normally holding the supporting means in active position, said member comprising a cord connected at one end to a fixed object and at its other end to the supporting means.

4. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver book, of a weight, connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the receiver hook, means normally supporting the weight buttending constantly to move out of supporting relation thereto, a disruptible member normally holding the supporting means in active position, said member comprising a cord connected at one end to a fixed object and at its other end to the supporting means, and thermostatic means for disrupt-- ing the cord.

5. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver heck, of a weight, connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the Weight will cause raising of the receiver'hook, a swingingly mounted latch lever, a swingingly mounted keeper normally supported by engagement with the latch lever .and in turn supporting the weight, means constantly tending to swing the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper, disruptible means normally holding the latch lever in engagement with the keeper, and means operable upon swingin of the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper for sounding a signal device.

6. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument including a receiver hook, of a weight, connection between the Weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the receiver hook, a swingingly mounted latch lever, a swingingly mounted keeper normally supported by engagement with. the latch lever and in turn supporting the weight, means constantly tending to swing the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper, disruptible means normally holding the latch lever in engagement with the keeper, and means operable upon swinging of the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper for sounding a signal device, said means including a contact disposed in juxtaposition to the latch lever, and an electrical signal in a normally open circuit with the latch lever and contact, the latch lever when swung out of engagement with the keeper being adapted to engage the contact to close the circuit.

' 7. In an alarm system, the combination with a telephone instrument having a receiver hook, of a weight, connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the receiver hook, supporting means for the weight, means constantly tending ,to cause the supporting means to move out of operative relation to the Weight, a cord under tension holding said latter means from operation, and means operable upon disruption of the cord for sounding a signal.

8. In a fire alarm, the combination with a telephone instrument having a receiver hook, of-a weight, operative connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the hook, a swinging latch lever, a keeper normally engaging the latch lever, supporting the weight and adapted to release it when disengaged from the latch lever, means operable upon disengagement of the latch lever from the keeper for sounding an alarm, means-constantly tending to move the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper, and a tensioned cord normally holding the latch lever in engagement with the keeper.

9. In a fire alarm, the combination with a telephone instrument having a receiver hook, of a weight, operative connection between the weight and instrument whereby falling of the weight will cause raising of the hook, a swinging latch lever, a keeper normally engaging the latch lever, supporting the weight and adapted to release it when disengaged from the latch lever, means operable upon disengagement of the latch lever from the keeper for sounding an the hook, a swinging latch lever, a keeper normally engaging the latch lever, supporting the weight and adapted to release it when disengaged from the latch lever, means operable upon disengagement of the latch'lever from-the keeper for sounding an alarm, means constantly tending to move the latch lever out of engagement with the keeper, a tensioned cord normally holding the latch lever in engagement with the keeper, and electrically operated thermo statically controlled means for disrupting the cord, said -means including an electromagnet, a thermostatic circuit closer, a circuit including the magnet and circuit closer and normally open at the circuit closer, and an armature for the magnet carrying a cutting blade, the tensioned cord being disposed in the path of movement of the cutting blade whereby energization of the magnet will cut the cord.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LEE A. COLLINS. [L. 5.] 

